Good morning.
Thursday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 43. Sunrise is 7:24 and sunset is 4:27, for 9 hours, 2 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 17.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1776, at the Battle of Trenton, the Continental Army under George Washington executes a successful surprise attack and defeats a garrison of Hessian forces serving Great Britain.
A reminder, as the year ends, that American economic growth has been strong:
The US economy expanded at a faster pace in the third quarter than previously estimated, owing in part to to stronger consumer spending and exports.
Gross domestic product increased at a 3.1% annualized rate in the third quarter, the third estimate of the figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed Thursday. That compared to a previous projection of 2.8%. Consumer spending was marked up to a 3.7% pace — the fastest since early 2023 — boosted by stronger outlays on services.
Exports expanded by 9.6% in the July-to-September period, up from 7.5% in the prior estimate. That was also entirely due to services.
The numbers reinforce the notion that the economy is still powering ahead despite expectations among forecasters for an eventual slowdown.
See Matthew Boseler, US Growth Revised to 3.1% on Stronger Consumer Spending, Exports, Bloomberg, December 19, 2024.
Of inflation, a similar good story is true: national inflation peaked two years ago, and has since fallen drastically. See Greg Iacurci, Here’s the inflation breakdown for November 2024, CNBC, December 11, 2024.
The contention that the economy has been terrible, most notably these last two years, is false. And yet, and yet, one hears each day new contentions that distort to the point of mythology the state of the economy. If the economic continues to do well, expect the populists to insist that it was only strong from January 20th onward. If the economy does poorly, expect the populists to say that the fault lies with anyone and anything other than the populists themselves.
One more point, evergreen in Whitewater: Whitewater’s old guard, its special interest faction, has never produced through its policies for this city broad economic gains for individuals and households. For themselves, of course. For others, no.
On the contrary, even in solid national conditions they found themselves bemoaning their own policies’ inability to capitalize. See Whitewater’s Still Waiting for That Boom.
In this respect, these transactional, special-interest men in Whitewater are like the populists: they don’t care about the accuracy of what they’re saying, but only that what they’re saying serves their particular political interests.
PBS Wisconsin Visits the Yerkes Observatory: